Bodie Interior #2

so once you’re inside how do you know what to point your lens at? Ever had that problem, got something special , unique with the clock ticking and the real possibility you will not have it again? Well that how’s I thought about every interior shoot. I knew I would be back (until that last shoot at the end of the workshop) but I still went in with that thought. So how did I pick a subject? I went for the light. Now since I was teaching, I either was working with a student and making their shot better or shooting over and around them or setting up a shot as a lesson. That’s what we have here.

The top photo is the old globe in the school house. You use to be able to see and photograph it through the window. Last time I was at Bodie it had been moved which struck me funny since the rule was you could not touch or move anything when working inside. Well as you can see the light on the globe is killer, a soft shading giving the globe that curved look. You can see the continents even if you look hard. You can also see in the window a little of the diffusion flat on the outside. I was set up for another shot a student was doing on another on object. I just took advantage of it for the globe

the pool table is a totally different lighting method. The shot was done after the sun was gone so there was no need for the diffusion flat. But I wanted the gradations of the light to give visual depth and shape to the pool table. Shooting with the 20mm, you can see the shape I wanted to the table. Picking this angle though brought into play more shadows then I wanted. Also the color was rather cool, I wanted it warmer. Keep in mind this was shot on film, what you see is what was shot, there is no Photoshop, the craftsmanship had to be there from the start. So who then did I clean up the shadows and warm up the light. If you said felled flash, you would be on the right track but wrong answer. I you thought a lot of telling was part of the answer, you’d be right. Yelling? Yeah, we’d covered one of the diffusion flats with a gold reflector, a 6×3′ flat and had it outside and a ways away to grab the last ray of sun to bounce it into the room. The folks working the flat couldn’t see its effect in the room so had to yell so they hear me on how to move the flat. I was very pleased with the final result and it was a great lesson on grabbing and using light.